Strand detector and detainer



May 5, 1925.

W. P. WILLIAMSON STRAND DETECTOR AND DETAINER Filed March 5 1924 Patented an s, was.

UNITED r E s l WILLIAM P; WILLIAIasON. or nunncw,

mesa

PATENT OFFICE.

nassncnnsnrrs, Assrenoa T ,nunnow MANUFACTURING ASSOCIA'IES, TRUSTEES, 0E ZBQSTON, MASSACHUSETTSQ STRAND nn'rnc'ron arm DETAIZNER.

7 Application filed March 3, 1924. Serial No. 696,566.

of Hampden and State of Massachusetts,

have invented new and useful Improvements 111 Strand Detectors and Detainers, of which the following is a specification.

p to induce breakage.

This invention relates to strand detector and detainer mechanism for uscwith strand or filament handling machinery such as winding machinery, or textile cordag'e or wire handling or using machines. A principal objectfof the invention is to provide 'a simple, accurate and reliable device adapted to detect a thin place in the stranth wire, cord, yarn, or other filament and to detain the filament when the device has operated to detect the thin place.

For tliese purposes I recommend and shall herein describe effective means for measur- Ring the recession of a running filament be-l low a required and predetermined minimum diameter, in combination with means acting as a consequenceof the occurrence and passage. of apla'ce thinner than the required minimum diameter to cause cessation of continuancje of supply of the filament. Assuming use of the invention with machinery causing the filament to run past a point un der more or less tension, 'a preferred form "of the device causes cessation of running of the filament by seizing it at or nearthe thin place and permitting; it to break; but the in-- vention is adapted for use unchanged with such filament using machinery as may be adapted to stop automatically upon increase in, tension of the filament, and in case of such use, the detention of the filament may be resorted to to increase tension rather-than A device adapted to operate to these ef-. fects is particularly useful in connection. with windingmachines, and especially in connection with winding machines adapted to windpackages for shipment and sale, or for use in textile machinery such aslooms, braiding,knitting, or netting machines, in which uses it is desiral'ile to prepare the yarn orothcr cordageby freeing it from obstructions suclnags slubs or knots, and particularly desirable to-make sure that no strand is included ;in thepackage foruse whichyaries' below a predetermined standard of strength offthickuess.

I am aware of the extensive use of mu mcrous types of devices for detecting slubs or knots, the said devices usually operating to detain the defective yarnand either to break the cordage without including the defective portion in the winding package, or

to cause the actuation of the stop-motion.

mechanism to cease winding the cordage or yarn package. But so far as I am aware, the art is without any device which will detect and prevent the inclusion in the package of a filamentpcordage or yarn defective in the sense of Weakness or thinness.

In. the accompanying drawings selected to illustrate a preferred instance only of mechanism exemplifying the invention.

F 1 is an end elevation;

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of 1; y y i a 3 is a diagram in plan; and

l is a section on the line l4c of Fig. 2 illustrating the operation of the device. a a

Referring now to thedrawing, at an ap propriate place on the winding or other yarn, cordage or filament handling machine frame 1, a suitable bracketQ having legs 3,. 3 is erected, in aligned bores 4,5 ofwliicli legs there may be receiyed a threaded shaft 6 having a reduced port-ion? and a shoulder .8, the shaft 6 preferably being in screwthreaded engagement with the bore a of one of the legs 3 and fastened in the other bore 5 suitably, as by a set screw 9 which will permit the shaft 6 to be turned to new position when desired.

On the screw-threaded portions of the shaft 6 is mounted ahardened member 10 having a slopingsurface, preferably as shown, formed as the frustum of a cone, of which the face of smaller diameter 11 is preferably accurately perpendicular to. the axis of the threaded bore 19 fitting the portion 6. The position of the face 11 of the conical member 10 in respect to shoulder 8 may thus be adjusted with micrometric accuracvby turnm'g it upon the portion 6.

Preferably the device is provided with a lock nut 13 having holes let for a pin wrench.

lioosely-mounted upon the reduced pen tion 7 of the shaft 6 for longitudinal motion on shaft 6 when desired is another member 15, preferably having a surface like the member 10., shown as frusto-conical and includ ing an accurately perpendicular face 16 at its smaller end, the faces 16 and 11 preferably being circles of the same diameter. The member 15 may be provided with an integral extension 17 surrounding its central bore, and adapted to provide ascat for a compression spiral spring 18, seated at its other end on a boss of leg 3. The member 15 is thus free to move against the stress of the spring 18 to the right of Fig. 2, but is normally positioned against the shoulder face 8 so that its face 16 is in use fixedly positioned in a plane accurately perpendicular to the shaft 6.

The members 10 and 15 by the described features thus provide a preferred form of instrument having an annular surrounding V-shaped groove communicating at its bottom with a parallel-walled slot between faces 11 and 16 adapted to be adjusted in width. Any other structure providing suitable guide-sin'faces and a slot of correct width at the bottom of the space between the guide surfaces might serve some or all of the purposes of the invention.

In use, the member 10 is adjusted so that its face 11 is displaced from the coincident planes of the faces 8 and 16 through a predetermined distance, which is the distance representing the minimum permissible diameter of the filament or yarn g with which the device is to be employed. By the described construction, the faces 11 and 16 are maintained at this distance of separation with exactitude, but may be separated for adjustment or cleaning.

This enables the preferred use of the device best indicated in Figs. 1, 3 and 4. The filament 1 whatever its nature, is causet to pass about the groove formed between the conical members 10 and 15, the conical faces of which are preferably polished, and so long as the filament y remains above the predetermined diameter the members 10 and 15 offer only sufficient resistance to this passage to provide a desirable tension on the filament 3 As indicated in Figs. 1 and 3, the filament 3 may be delivered directly to the traverse-guide t of a winding device, and the forms of the guide and tension surfaces constituted by the members 10 and 15 are such as to permit lateral deviation of the filament, for example. to the extren'ie positions 7 y Fig. 3, without hindrance of the desirable effect of the device as a whole.

\Vhenever the filament l falls below the desirable minimum diameter, for example as illustrated at m Fig. 4, then the stress on the winding or passing strand or filament causes it to enter between the faces 11 and 16 of the members 10 and 15, there to be wedged and detained, resulting as shown in breakage at m, or sufficient tension upon the passing strand to operate the top-motion usual to the machines with which the new device is employed.

To avoid irregular wear, the shaft 6 may be turned occasionally by loosening setscrew 9, to bring into contact with the running filament a different segment of the surfaces of the members 10 and 15.

lVhile I have described a preferred form of device exemplifying the new principle of the invention, it will be obvious that other means for measuring the recession of a running filament below a required 'minimum diameter in combination with other means than those described for causing cessation of continuance of supply of the filament past the device as a consequence of the occurrence of a thin place would still embody the new idea of means constituting this invention, and I am not to be understood as restricting the scope of this invention to the particular devices recommended and herein described.

I claim:

1. A measuring and thin-place detector device for running filaments comprising means for guiding the filament and means for seizing and detaining filaments below a predetermined minimum thickness.

2. In a filament handling machine having therein means to cause a filament to run past a point, the combination with said means of a guide about which the filament passes during operation of the machine, and having therein a slot of predetermined width adapt ed to be entered by a portion of the filament of less than the said predetermined thickness, thereby to detain the running filament.

3. In a measuring and detaining device for filament handling machines, the combination of guide means having a groove for the filament and having a slot therein adapted to be entered by an abnormally thin place as a consequence of the normal tension 011 said filament.

4-. In a filament handling machine, means for causing a filament to pass about a guiding surface, means providing said surface, and means to detect and detain a portion of the filament of less than normal diameter comprising a slot in said surface providing means adapted to be entered by a thin place in said filament.

5. Thinplace detector and detainer mechanism for filan'ient-handling machines having therein means providing surfaces to gether forming a guide-groove for a filament of normal thickness, and having other surfaces constituting walls of a slot into which an abnormally thin place in the filament may enter and be wedged.

6. Tl1inplace detector and detainer mechanism for filament-handling machines having therein means providing surfaces together forming a guide-groove for a filament of normal thickness, and having other surfaces constituting walls of a slot into llt] which an abnormally thin place in the filament may enter and be wedged, in combination with means for achustmg the distance apart of said other surfaces.

7. Thin-place detector and detainer mechanism for filament-handling machines havwhich an abnormally thin place in the filament may enter and be wedged, in combination with micrometer-screw and locking means for adjusting and fixing the distance apart of said other surfaces.

8. Thin-place detector and detainer mechanism for use with filament-handling machines comprising members providing between them an annular guide-groove, in combination with a mounting adapted to hold said members spaced apart by a predetermined distance, to provide a wedging slot communicating with said guide groove for thin places in the filament.

9. Guide, detector and detainer mechanism for filaments or strands comprising a shouldered shaft, cooperating members strung on said shaft having surfaces adaptedtogether to constitute a guide groove for the filament or strand, and other surfaces lying crosswise of said shaft, means for, holding one of said members against the shoulder on said shaft, and means for positioning the other member on said shaft to separate said other surfaces by a predetermined distance, whereby to provide a slot to be entered by a thin place in said filament or strand.

10. Guide, detector and detainer mechanism for filaments or strands comprising a shouldered shaft, cooperating members strung on said shaft having surfaces adapted together to constitute a guide groove for the filament or strand, and other surfaces lying crosswise of said shaft, yielding means for holding one of said members against the shoulder on said shaft and micrometerscrew and lock-nut means for positioning the other member on said shaft to separate said other surfaces by a predetermined distance, whereby to provide a. slot to be entered by a thin place in said filament or strand.

Signed by me at Ludlow, Massachusetts, this twenty-fifth day of February, 1924:.

\VILLIAM P. VILLIAMSON. 

